The Progressive Movement In The Early 20th Century

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After the Civil War, our country was battered and beaten, but it rebuilt itself over time and spread its policies, as well as manufacturing practices, throughout our country. Early in the 20th century, members of our nation started to look at some of these practices and policies and began to question their merit and whether they assisted our population or not. Many people were involved in the progressive movement in America from the presidents to a slew of popular authors and photographers. The one thing that they had in common was that they saw problems with how various industries in our nation performed that they knew needed to be fixed. They did not always agree on everything, such as immigration, but they always had the nation’s best interest at heart. …show more content…

The time in which most immigration took place was from 1840 until world war 1 started. Each year over 750000 immigrated to the united states and they helped to expand many new frontiers of labor; however, these workers typically found themselves stuck in long term labor contracts that they could not get out of. Not only that, but some companies preyed upon their habit of living near each other to gather votes for their own political agendas. Some groups of progressives did not support immigration or want to help them very much because of the rampant racism that was still present in the country; luckily, many of the female reformers did not think that this was a thing to be tolerated and did their best to aid them. Many journalists, such as Jacob Riis or Lincoln Steffens, also did research into how these people lived in the slums as well as their treatment; then, they created articles speaking of the many injustices they were facing (PBS). Without people aiding them, these immigrants would have faced a much harder time acclimating themselves to